"Now, we catch our breath and wait for it to evaporate."

"And bitch about who gets the boss loot!" Kelsey adds. "You alright, Fischer girl? Fischers are resistant to cold, right?"

She hugs Thorn back, shivering. "Yeah, I think I'm fine. Been hurt worse. But fuck that was cold."

"Alright." 

Thorn unhugs Abyssia after a couple moments, and reloads both barrels of her gun. 

"So," she says. "Do we continue on to level two or is that a run limiting injury?"

"That's up to you guys," Jeanne says. "We're going to keep going regardless, I think. So we'd need to split the loot fairly."

The big boar is starting to turn to a glowing mass, flakes of crystalline light floating upwards and vanishing, blue blood evaporating into nothingness.

"I-I have some toughness skills, I can fight at full effectiveness even a little injured. It was pretty inevitable that someone got hurt there, I think, and I was running interference for Thorn and you two on purpose- Maybe I should get better armor. Embrace it. Anyway, I'd say we all continue, but don't take any risks on the second floor."

"I'll go with Bys on this, she knows better than me how much she can take. I trust her."

"Either of you two think it was acting a little weird at the end there?"

"-Well, I had it in the front leg joint. It couldn't move right."

Jeanne shrugs. The boss finishes decaying away, revealing a fairly huge slab of slightly blue raw pork, rimed with frost.

"...I guess that's going in my backpack. Only one it'll fit in."

"Alright, let's keep going. I'm reloaded and ready."

She smiles at Bys and nods slightly.

Abyssia... Sits down to catch her breath, and maybe leans on Thorn slightly.

After a short break, she reloads too, and they're off again.

None of the second floor monsters present as much of a challenge as the first floor boss, even if all four of them take a bruise or scratch at some point. Luckily Jeanne thinks to warn them of the Frost Spiders' tendency to set ambushes above entrances.

It's evening by the time the group of four return to the surface, sweaty and tired and almost out of ammo.

"Do we want to keep any of our loot, or should we just turn it all in and even split the proceeds, four ways?" she asks the group. "I might want some of the meat, so I can chew on the thing that hurt me, but nothing else."

Thorn rummages through the small pile of gear, pauses at the ring of frost resistance, shakes her head. "No, there's nothing here worth keeping for me. Sell it all."

They sell it all, even the meat hunk. After the Guild's cut and splitting it four ways, they're left with two silver, three copper, and seven copper pennies each. Jeanne and Kelsey wave a cheerful goodbye, saying 'see you tomorrow for another run maybe!'

Once they're alone, Abyssia says, "...You shouldn't have risked yourself to help me, I think."

"Your life is worth more than that secret. I had to make a snap call, and it passed fine. And - look, I like you, I'm attracted to you, I'm not going to let you die. Period."

"I would've been fine. Probably. The-" Pause. "The Hero's Companions tend to die. Saving cities. Saving the Hero. Saving the world." Pause again. "I guess it's far too early for that."

"If you're going to inevitably die heroically then I'd at least like to kiss you first. And have you not die to a first level boss." A teasing note's crept into her voice. "That would just be a waste if you're supposed to save at least a whole city."

"Sorry. I just- Everything feels so big and important since last night. Too big, too important, like everything is ruined forever if I make the slightest fuckup-"

"Clearly not. You got injured but everything was fine. Chill. Metaphorically. And..." 

She sighs. "I hate to encourage you to think of yourself as "for me", but - if you're for me, be someone I can be myself with. When things get rough we can't be a goddess and her worshipper. We need to be fast friends, at least. And I'd like more than that, but... it would hardly be fair to ask, now would it."

"...No, it wouldn't, would it? I'd feel the same way."

She takes deep breaths.

"Let's get something to eat together as friends. And i-if I decide I want to k-kiss you. It'll be because I want to, not because I think you want me to want to. This I promise."

"Yeah, let's. You can introduce me to your favorite foods, I don't know the local specialties."

...

"And thank you for the promise. It means a lot."

"Yeah. Now I see how it's... Wronging you to not do that. So. This way."

Abyssia likes fried fish, spicy pickles, and a sweet milkshake-like fruit drink called 'smashes', served cold via minor application of frost magic. All of these can be got from street food stalls while they keep walking.

"What was your home like?"

"Teleportation circles everywhere, paid for by public works and available for everyone. Apartments squished together in pocket dimensions. Prominent red-light districts. If you had no money and no skills you could make a living suffering pain for other people. Some people got very good at that and expanded to courtesan work. And wherever you went there was a merchant venture called the OTC that sold lifespan, rest, memory, and freedom from pain. It was never a place I really fit in. It was too civilized."

She shakes her head. "I think I would've liked it? The most exciting thing to happen in North Sparwater most weeks was someone losing a fishing net, or how Father Govus's latest sermon is a bit hypocritical, or how Kevin botched someone's tattoo. Such a small place."

"That, my world was not. It was a very, very large place. Growing all the time."

"I think I'm actually really glad they basically kicked me out. I've done so much more since then... I'm going to need new ink soon, to go with my new adventures."

"You journal? Or do you mean on your skin?"